Money that arose from the sale in 1989 of a house on Amiens Street, Dublin, owned by Fianna Fáil, is still on deposit in an account controlled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's constituency organisation, a spokesman for the party said yesterday.
The spokesman said Mr Ahern did not accrue any financial benefit from the sale of the building, and the money that arose from the sale was not used to purchase or to renovate Mr Ahern's Dublin Central constituency base St Luke's.
It could not be established yesterday how much is involved or why the money has been left in an account for 18 years.
The party spokesman issued a short statement yesterday in response to a report in the Sunday Tribune which, he said, contained a number of fundamental inaccuracies.
The report concerned the sale of 72 Amiens Street in north Dublin in 1989. At the time of the sale Mr Ahern was one of a number of trustees who owned it on behalf of the party.
It is understood the building had been used by three north Dublin constituencies and the proceeds were shared between them. "The beneficiaries were three of the local constituency comhairles in Dublin," the spokesman told the Sunday Tribune. "The proceeds of the sale were divided as agreed. The proceeds that accrued to Dublin Central are held in a constituency account."
In a statement issued yesterday the spokesman said that, contrary to any inference in the Sunday Tribune report, "the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the trustees of St Luke's did not accrue any financial benefit from the sale of 72 Amiens Street. Any suggestion that they did so is simply untrue."
The decision to sell 72 Amiens Street was made not by Mr Ahern or the trustees of St Luke's but by the Fianna Fáil organisation. The proceeds of the sale were divided among the three comhairle on the basis agreed at the time which was by resolution passed by the Comhairlí Dáil Ceantair. None of this money was used to buy St Luke's or for its renovation.
"The proceeds of the sale of Amiens Street that accrued to Dublin Central were lodged in a Fianna Fáil party account for that constituency, and those funds are in the control of the Dublin Central Fianna Fáil organisation."
According to the report, Mr Ahern has told the Mahon tribunal that the only property transactions with which he had an involvement in the period January 1989 to December 2002, were to do with his former family home in Malahide and his current residence on Beresford Avenue, Drumcondra. The report suggested that he should have notified the tribunal of his involvement, as trustee, in the sale of the Amiens Street property.
In his statement yesterday the party spokesman said: "The Taoiseach has always provided full information and co-operation to the tribunal. The suggestion that the sale of Amiens Street by the Fianna Fáil organisation has anything remotely to do with the Quarryvale module is rejected."
In October 2006, Mr Ahern mentioned the Amiens Street sale while being questioned in the Dáil about his personal finances.
"The house was sold by the trustees and officers of the party and I probably was a trustee. The money is in the accounts," he said. He did not elaborate.
Mr Ahern is scheduled to continue giving evidence to the tribunal on Thursday and Friday.
